Ice Flowers
by dwellingonephemeraldreams
Summary: Three alternate universes Princess Yue could have celebrated a birthday and one where she couldn't.


**A/N: This one's for Sofie, who is amazing in every way.**

**1. Northern Water Tribe**

The Northern Water Tribe palace was a stunning work of art, almost a mirage in its transparent beauty. The Southern Water Tribe didn't even have one. Well, not yet. It was still being built, the blocks that it was supposed to be made of still deeply wedged in some solid cliff side. There were more important things to attend to, and even the chief's son was busy overseeing the new healing centre's construction.

And he was _tired _because bossing people around can be so _taxing_, and do you have any idea how _hard_ it was to get people to keep this whole building a secret? Yue just _had _to be the princess that _everyone _adored and can't resist but he guessed he had no right to complain about that fact because if it wasn't for her, he himself wouldn't be losing 5 hours of sleep every night (_**5 hours!**_) just to make sure she had a fancy hospital all to herself.

Sokka wasn't complaining, though, when he took her hand and led her to the outskirts of the tribe, thankful all the while that their hands were in thick gloves- even the cold would not have stopped his palms from admitting his own nervousness.

She took one look at the graceful pillars supporting the structure, the swirling decorations etched on the ice, the messily written "_Happy Birthday, Princess" _on the sign above the entrance, and she grabbed both sides of his face, erasing all his doubts with a single, drawn-out kiss. His body knew what to do without even thinking about it: arms automatically wrapped around her waist, forehead nudging hers as she smiled at him.

"Thank you."

"You like it?"

"And all this time I thought you were sneaking off to someone else."

He looked so _offended _by her statement that she had to laugh. "I'm joking, Sokka. I'd never actually think that. Not yet."

"You are so not worth missing out on 5 hours of sleep."

"Really, now?"

He kissed the tip of her nose, and then-"You're worth so much more."

**2. The White House**

See, when one is the daughter of the President of the United States, you'd expect one to have the grandest birthday bash imaginable, with the entire White House filled with her 500 or so closest friends and shimmery pink streamers.

It wasn't.

It was 11:30 pm (the start of my shift on weekends) on her 21st birthday, and, from what my fellow Secret Service agents tell me, there had been absolutely no change in activity in the place. Granted, the President and his First Lady were out of the country on peacemaking business and their daughter wasn't the type to order everyone to bow down to her whims, but surely the staff could have managed more than a few measly greetings?

"By the way, what's in the gigantic paper bag, lover boy?" Hahn, whom I believed should be kicked out of the country simply for existing and having the same shift times as I do, asked.

"None of your business."

"Hey, I'm just trying to look out for you. I tried giving _Princess _a necklace today, and she just smiled that fake smile of hers and said it would be _inappropriate. _She probably just thinks I'm not good enough for her. Pah. I'm 23 and already in the highest ranks of Secret Service-dom. She should be _honoured._

Asshole. "She was probably just allergic to pretentious suck-ups", I muttered.

"What was that?" he replied, but I was already on my way to the First Daughter's bedroom, which might be considered… controversial, but I swear I was just going to leave her strawberry cheesecake in front of her door… possibly with a signed note.

Turns out it wasn't needed. As I was trying to arrange the paper bag in some sort of pretty way, the thick, white, bulletproof door opened, revealing a slightly disheveled but still absurdly beautiful Yue (means Moon in Chinese. I checked).

"Uhhh…" _Sweet lord what do I even say ohmygod she's right there and probably wondering what the hell I'm doing outside her door at like- _I took a quick glance at my watch- _11:39 in the evening oh god I'm getting fired aren't I I'm not even 22 yet and I'm getting fired from my first real job ohgodohgodohgod-_

"What are you doing?" She asked, except her voice wasn't pissed off, or even accusatory. It was, quite simply, curious.

"I was just… I… I thought you'd like cheesecake. Ma'am. Of the strawberry variety. For your birthday. I'm sorry if I woke you I was just trying to prettify the paper bag (_Really?! Prettify?!)_ and I-"

She waved a hand, effectively cutting off my rambling. "Oh, don't worry, you didn't wake me up. I was just reading." She kneeled down to join me on the floor, and then smiled (_that smile can cure world hunger), _"How'd you know cheesecake of the strawberry variety" she giggled a little bit at that part, "was my favorite?"

"Um. You always eat more when that's for dessert. Not that I watch you! Or anything like that, I just…" and then I just let myself shut up because yes, I did watch her but it's my _job_, okay?! Has nothing to do with the fact that she is kind and gentle and radiant. Not at all.

"It's Sokka, isn't it?"

_She knows my name!_ "Yes, ma'am."

"Please don't call me ma'am. I'm Yue."

I let the name roll off my tongue. "Yue." It suited her so well.

"That's the spirit. Well then, Sokka, how would you like to sit outside my bedroom door with me and eat some of my cheesecake?"

"With you?"

"With me."

"It would… it would be my pleasure."

**3. Konoha**

"You sent for me, Yue-sama?"

Konoha's recently elected Fifth Hokage looked up from whatever paperwork she was going through and smiled at the Nara clan's second-in-command. "Sokka-san. You were in charge of these infiltration plans, weren't you?"

"Y-yes, Yue-sama." Sokka Nara hoped she didn't hear the stumble in his response. He was supposed to be calm, the actual embodiment of the logic his clan was so proud of, and that so did not include stuttering. Besides, it's just the Hokage, he's seen her a million times since her electi- oh hell, who was he kidding, half the village already knew he totally had a crush on the _gorgeous _Hokage, he may as well admit it to himself.

Except he can't. Because. She was the daughter of the Third Hokage and now _she _was one and Sokka was sure that gave her like, double Hokage-points, which meant doubly impossible to ever ever go out with. Also she was beautiful and the strongest ninja in the village but you wouldn't know that at first because she was so kindhearted it was actually ridiculous and _ughhhhhhhh perfection was never meant to exist_

But anyway.

"They're looking pretty good, but one of our ANBU was injured on another mission, and some adjustments have to be made." She had a way of making everything seem like it's made of sunshine and rainbows, Sokka idly noted. How many people could possibly make a mission-adjustment thing sound so _positive? _Maybe her water-style wasn't actually her special jutsu and it was simply being an all-around amazing person.

But ANYWAY.

"Sure, it's no problem. I'll have it done by tomorrow, or sooner if you want."

"Oh, take your time. I'd like today to be as relaxed as possible." She smiled again at him. "Did you know it's my birthday?"

Sokka did, in fact, know. He was part of the village's intelligence team, after all, not to mention being a Nara. He just didn't know how to go about saying happy birthday and all that.

It took several seconds for him to realize that Yue was staring at him in surprise… before she let out a loud peal of laughter, that is.

"I… w-what?"

"Third person", more laughter, "Why were you speaking in third person?"

Sokka had never wanted to be kidnapped by a rival village and buried 40 feet into the ground more than at that exact moment.

Did he just… did he just _narrate _his inner thoughts to the bloody Hokage slash girl of his dreams? _WHAT IS WRONG WITH HIM OH GOD HOW NERVOUS COULD ONE PERSON POSSIBLY GET_

On the bright side, Yue saw his face turning into a brand new shade of bright red and took pity on him.

She got up from behind the table and walked over to Sokka, then patted his arm while he just stood there, still willing death to come upon him in some form. "It's okay, Sokka-san. We all make dramatic monologues sometimes."

"Don't… I… I was… I don't know." Oh good, he could actually form words. That's _something_.

"You're… interesting, Sokka-san." She tilted her head quizzically. "How would you like to say happy birthday to me over a bowl of ramen at Ichiraku's? He is a phenomenal cook, I tell you."

Sokka could only nod. The shock of completely humiliating himself and then getting asked to ramen by the Hokage herself was too much. Speech was not going to be possible for the next couple of years or so.

"Let's go, then."

He found out minutes later that Ichiraku really was a phenomenal cook. Months of unresolved sexual tension later, he also found out that Yue's white hair was like flawless silk, and that her lips were as soft as her heart.

If he had to write a book about the whole debacle, it would be entitled _The Advantages of Dramatic Monologues in Front of the Love of Your Life._

Cheesy, but it made Yue laugh, and that's all that mattered, anyway.

**The One Where She Couldn't**

Sokka laid down the ice flowers Katara made every year next to the spirit oasis. He said three things:

_Happy Birthday_

Then,

_I'm sorry_

And finally,

_I love you_


End file.
